INDIA: The Floods Came

Across eastern India and Pakistan, monsoon
rains swept in mighty torrents between the Himalayas and the sea. In
the heart of the populous Ganges valley, 10,000 villages crumbled and
vanished, and farmers shared tree trunks with cobras in the worst
floods since 1871. In the coastal state of Orissa, eight rivers
thundered simultaneously into spate, killing at least 150, inundating
3,500 sq. mi. of drought-seared cropland. The state's 138 legislators
dropped everything and rushed homeward to find out their families'
fate.

That was several weeks ago, but so massive was the damage that air force
planes last week still dropped...